Laboratory courses are a vital part of engineering and scientific education and training, but so far, lab courses have been considered impractical for remote education. Lab courses are traditionally conducted at a central location, with student, instructor, and experiment in close proximity to each other. On the other hand, user-friendly, computer-controlled instrumentation is revolutionizing the way measurements are being made, and is now permitting net-based techniques to be utilized for setting up remote instrument access.
An example of remote instrument access is U.S. Pat. No. 5,790,977, entitled “Data Acquisition From A Remote Instrument Via The Internet” issued Aug. 4, 1998 to Ezekiel. This patent describes the use of the World Wide Web to allow remote access from a host system to an instrument. In the cited patent, control and data acquisition software reside in the instrument. The software must first be forwarded to the host system before access to the instrument is possible. After receiving the software by way of the Internet, the host system is able to control the instrument.
Several companies offer software packages that permit remotely accessing and controlling instruments using the Internet. With the Internet Developer Toolkit from National Instruments, Inc., which is an add-on utility of LabVIEW, it is possible to create virtual instruments (VIs) with front panel user interfaces that are viewable from standard Web browsers. Both Componentworks from National Instruments, Inc. and HPVee from Hewlett Packard Co. supply ActiveX controls, which may be embedded in user applications and be suitable as the front end user interface for remote instrument control. ActiveX allows for the programming of simulated knobs, slides, and other elements commonly found on control panels of instruments. The ActiveX based applications use standard Web browsers, such as for example Internet Explorer from Microsoft Corporation.
As versatility of communications over the Internet increases, it is desirable to set up and modify experiments at a central location by an instructor. It is also desirable to allow a client or student to easily access the experiment from a remote location. Furthermore, it is desirable to allow the client or student flexibility in performing the experiment within guidelines controlled by the instructor.